Zone - Shipwreck Cove ((Stranded - START))

From a bird's eye view, the cove looked peaceful. Blue water crashing against a rocky beach, the whole thing surrounded by walls of rock.

But the aftermath of the storm made it look completely different.

Fresh driftwood and pieces of the Greenhawk were scattered all over the place, in addition to the rotten hulks of older wrecks. Among these were other Achaean vessels, some southern pirating ships, and even an Inquisitorial frigate. What made it worse were the corpses scattered among the wreckage, in addition to the skeletons from other such incidents in the past.

The survivors stood shivering in three separate groups; the Imperial Skirmishers, the Ship's crew, and the oar slaves. Even though they were all from different social classes, they all had one thing that was on their minds:

What dangers awaited them on this island?

---

STRANDED

Part I: Landfall

Thantos Grenfell looked with open disappointment at what remained of the troops under his command: out of the one hundred skirmishers he had brought with him, less than twenty had survived the storm. Even worse, all of them were under the command of Angus the Butcher, on of the higher-ups' favorites, but a man who Thantos despised due to his brutality. Some of the soldiers under his command, such as Sextus and Gavia, were nice enough, but the rest of them were brutes who looked like they belonged in a gladiatorial pit rather than the Achaean Military.

Edmund Hawkin had fared little better than the Imperial Officer: barely enough crew-members to make up even a skeleton crew had made it through the storm. The more memorable ones like Quint had survived, but they would be hard pressed to sail anything back to the known world.

The only one who seemed pleased about this situation was Brute of all people. A surprisingly large amount of slaves had survived the storm, and where now bunched up in a group guarded by several of the Skirmishers. The slaves - including Silmiri and Captivus Vir - looked on with varying levels of fear, resignation, or defiance. Two of the more noticeable slaves were Jon - an enormous man hailing from the deep south of Khemet - and Nigel - a relatively newer addition to the slaves who had been purchased in the North.

"Listen up!" Thantos barked as he paced in front of the three groups "were are currently shipwrecked on a island unfamiliar to us, as Captain Hawkin informs me that this place is on non of what few sea charts he was able to recover!"

"It's true," Edmund chimed it "from what I can gather, we are on an undiscovered island in uncharted southern waters."

"In any case," Thantos continued "we are going to be on leave on this place for an unknown amount of time, we have two options: first, and my personal favorite, we head inland to see if we can head off this place! And sec-!"

"And secondly," Edmund interrupted "we could stay here. Maybe we could rebuilt the Greenhawk and get out of this place, but it would take a while. It's a much safer plan than heading inland."

The two glared at each other for a moment before the Imperial Officer looked at the group and said "Alright, we'll put it to a vote! Who wants to head inland, and who wants to stay here?"

---

((Welcome to the official start of Stranded. After voting on what to do next, feel free to interact with one another.))

Quint rubbed the back of his head and winced. There was definitely a lump there.

To be honest, he hadn't really been listening as the centurion and the captain bickered. As a rule he could usually rely on his friends to tell him what he'd missed. On reflection, since most of them were now dead, he should probably pay attention.

"Alright, we'll put it to a vote! Who wants to head inland, and who wants to stay here?"

There was a brief silence. Quint shrugged. He'd trust the captain's judgement, it hadn't let him down yet.

-----

Agnus sneered at the pathetic bunch in front of him. Filthy slaves and undisciplined sailors. It was a stroke of luck that he had his men at his back. Less lucky that Thantos had survived. The man was soft, and there was no doubt others would be swayed by his outlook.

"This island belongs to the Empire now." He spoke clearly, daring anyone to disagree. "We'll head inland and make camp, unless anyone wants to make themselves known as cowards."

--------

Silmiri looked at the assembled crowd, her heart sinking. For a brief moment, she thought she had a chance to escape, but the slavemaster's whip had said otherwise. She scratched the scarred stump that had been her right hand thoughtfully. A trip inland may give the best chance to slip away, particularly if she could cause a distraction. But how to get off the island?

She looked around again, taking in the other slaves that had survived. A strange mix, and nobody she had been particularly close to. Was there anyone she could trust? She caught the eye of Captivus Vir, testing the waters with a nod.

Captivus Vir stood in utter silence, listening as everyone else spoke. He was not one to partake in an argument, a vote, or anything of the sort. As a slave, he had no opinion.

He saw another slave, Silmiri, nod to him. He was not sure why. Perhaps it was simply acknowledgement of each other's survival. So he gave one very small nod back. That should be enough. If she was planning some sort of conspiracy, Captivus would be no part of it.

---

"Alright, we'll put it to a vote! Who wants to head inland, and who wants to stay here?"

"I see no point in staying here," Sextus Valentinus put in. "We've naught to work with but a shipwreck. May as well try to find some shelter before nightfall."

Naturally, Agnus had a much more abrupt and bullheaded reaction, like he did with everything: "This island belongs to the Empire now." Agnus spoke clearly, daring anyone to disagree. "We'll head inland and make camp, unless anyone wants to make themselves known as cowards."

Valen turned away to gaze back at the wreckage - or, at least, it seemed that was what he was doing. In reality, he just wanted the freedom to roll his eyes.

Gavia - or Gavin, as he knew her - was standing about nearby, so Valen approached and asked, "You alright?"

Gavia groaned quietly as she tried to gather her gear and shake the sand out of… everything. The damned stuff had gotten in every crevice possible on herself and every article she could claim to her name. Saunio sighed irritably, trying her damnedest to brush her bow until it was clean. Ish.

Before she could finish, someone had the brilliant idea of voting for where they were going. Yeah, as if Agnus is gonna let us vote. Gavia thought with a glare at the brutish commander. Hell, Thantos should know better than anyon-

"This island belongs to the Empire now." He spoke clearly, daring anyone to disagree. "We'll head inland and make camp, unless anyone wants to make themselves known as cowards."

Perfect. Makes it easier to separate you on some lonely island and-

"You alright?"

Sextus’s voice brought ‘Gavin’ out of ‘his’ thoughts, and she blinked at surprisingly handsome skirmisher. She must’ve been on the other end of the ship from him, because until that moment all the other soldiers had appeared more like orcs than proper men… and now she was staring down an awfully handsome lowborn piece of… person. Yes.

Gavia blinked a few times to collect herself, clearing her throat and brushing the last bit of sand off her bow. “Besides all this damned sand, yes.” She grumbled, keeping her voice just deep enough she could get away with the ‘young lad’ impression without going overboard. “I thought things were bad enough just being under the Butcher...” ‘Gavin’ murmured, nodding in the general direction of their superior officer.

“Doubt anyone would miss him if he ran headlong into some local savages…”

"This island belongs to the Empire now. We'll head inland and make camp, unless anyone wants to make themselves known as cowards."

Thantos gritted his teeth, while Edmund seemed to be looking elsewhere. It was clear that the Imperial Officer was just now realizing that the Skirmishers could not go against Angus' word.

The other survivors, on the other hand, seemed divided. Some, mostly skirmishers, thought the heading inland was a good idea, while others though that it was better to stay on the beach. However, the former was in the majority.

"Alright!" Thantos barked "We'll head inland as soon as we gather up what we can! Skirmishers, move out and gather any military supplies we can find! MOVE!!!"

As the Skirmisher moved out in a semi-ordered fashion, Edmund looked as what was left of his crew and said "Gather what supplies you can. If we are headed inland, they the least we can do is not starve there."

The Slaves, however, were not so lucky. The Skirmishers guarding them stayed put, though Brute had disappeared - probably searching corpses for valuables. They where, however, free to talk among themselves.

((Going to leave some more time for talk between players before moving the plot forward.))

Agnus watched in distaste as the shambles around him gathered supplies, before moving to Thantos' side.

"Giving the slaves the day off, Thantos?" He jerked his head in the direction of the grouped oar slaves, who stood under guard while the skirmishers and sailors busied themselves. "How very kind" he sneered.

---

Silmiri noted Captius' lukewarm reaction, and cursed internally. The man had looked unsure, and that wasn't what she was after. The journey inland would be their best chance to slip away, and teamwork would be key. Time for another tactic.

Feigning a dizzy spell, she allowed herself to topple forward slightly, in the direction of Jon and Nigel. Hopefully they would be more communicative.